Discussion Do all Chinese authors fail in math?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by moneng85, Aug 17, 2020.

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  1. unkxz

    unkxz Lurker

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    I think, it's like 'a ton' in english most of the time doesn't mean 1,000kg, it's just an expression. like in my language, ten thousand or ten ten-thousand, can be used as an expression of 'a lot' and doesn't actually mean 10,000 or 100,000. I might be wrong and they're actually bad at math, but for the ease of reading, when I see bad math or stupid numbers I always think of it as an expression and not its exact value so I don't get trigger by it.
     
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  2. phobos

    phobos Well-Known Member

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    well i got a scientific background so i prefer exact numbers

    so if i got a number i like to scale that stuff than its bad if the numbers change everytime they are mentioned
    also i find it strange, its always the same "higher stages" are rare as purple unicorns let the MC reach that stage and they turn out to be as common as sand on a beach for that i like soulland as it set the bounderies early and dont break them

    i mean most the time its more fun to read a well made up 300 Chapter story instead of some drawn out 1k + stories where the author tends to repeat himself after the first 50 chapters quite often it feels like the author is just digging their nose about what to do with the next chapter once going in that direction than going in the other, forgetting 90% of the characters and if its really bad the MCs even gains epic skills and forget that they have them so its never used

    i guess the game novels help the author if the regulary recap that stats and skills of their chars7or at least of the MC
     
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  3. YWL

    YWL Well-Known Member

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    You're putting earthling standards on cultivation novels bruh.

    Imagine how small you'd be on jupiter. Them cultivators on planets tens to thousands of times the size of jupiter. It's only natural for their everything to be exaggerated.
     
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  4. nonononononono

    nonononononono NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

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    here is your weekly "why do Chinese authors..." without mentioning a specific book.
     
  5. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    it just a number~ big sure but as time pass this cat just hoahem at those number given on story~ really~ sure sometime seeing translator choice imperial system kinda funny cuz this cat sure china use metric system so.... lul too bad this cat can't read moonrunes so sometimes just make auto convert in this cat brain~
    oh how about story the word is so big to point one huuuge castle if converted to regular that castle just a spect of electron or proton or neutron on atom?
    yes such ridiculous number on story exist
     
  6. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    The short answer is no.

    To add to this, if the numbers mentioned in a particular novel bother you, it's probably best to move onto a different book.

    The long answer is that Chinese numbers often aren't numbers at all. Chinese literature is primarily about figurative descriptions and context-based text rather than the literal numbers preferred in English literature. For example, a common phrase you'd see in Chinese is "千军万马" (lit. "thousand army ten thousand horse") and what it actually means is "a lot of soldiers". And that's the way it works for a lot of these other descriptions that seem to be literal numbers. So just don't take these numbers at face value; you can be sure that Chinese readers aren't doing so.

    Yeah, this too. To be fair though I wouldn't be surprised if this one actually does happen a lot.
     
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  7. phobos

    phobos Well-Known Member

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    what problem would you adress first ?
    non breathable air
    giant planets always seems to be gasplanets
    atmospheric pressure would iron you flat
    gravity on top
    such high masses would turn planets into stars starting fusion processes

    all you can say is "its fantasy"
     
  8. YWL

    YWL Well-Known Member

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    You're assuming that all fantasy cultivation planets are gas giants that cannot sustain life. It seems like you haven't read their descriptions of the places they're in. Greenery everywhere.

    Furthermore, at a high enough cultivation, they don't even need food and can walk around in space no problem.
     
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  9. vlue

    vlue Jaded Isekai-Reader

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    From my experience, i don't think Chinese Authors are the only one who have problems with numbers and how unrealistically proportions they are, i see them to in publish english fantasy novels too, looking at you ASOIAF and the "Wall".
     
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  10. novaes

    novaes Well-Known Member

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    I think it's a thematic thing. I have a vague recollection of being told that CN authors can use numbers to express the severity of something, like "that's 10,000 a bad idea" being like "that's a really bad idea" and the bigger the number, the most extreme the emphasis is? Either that or I'm crazy.

    I do also remember reading a sword cultivator novel where there were some guards for some place that were so tall they'd be 1/3 the diameter of the milky way galaxy... and realms themselves that were even larger than a galaxy. I just stopped putting any credence at all into any numerical value I saw in a cultivation novel.
     
  11. Ginko Biloba

    Ginko Biloba [♤Blackjack Sect Mascot♤] [☆100MB SPAMMER☆]

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    I guess they sacrificed their math skills to have the abilty to write stories....kinda like making a deal with the devil where you lose your soul to have a wish of yours fulfilled.....lol
     
  12. jackateonetoo

    jackateonetoo Wet Dog

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    I remember how shocked I was, when I learned that I Eat Tomatoes was a math major. His math is just too awful.
     
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